The owner of a Lichfield car repair business is gearing up for a 3,000km charity drive.
Andy Johnson, from Fix Auto Lichfield, will take on the mammoth journey across the Moroccan desert to support local organisation Carter the Brave.
He will team up with professional racing driver friend Sam Randon for the annual Panda Raid event which sees around 300 classic Fiat Panda cars from the mid-1980s take part.
The journey will take them on a ferry from Almeria to Nador and then across some of the most challenging driving conditions in Africa before finishing in Casablanca.
Andy said:
“A friend who has taken part in the Panda Raid a couple of times persuaded me to give it a go, apparently the experience is like no other, so I signed up not really knowing what I was letting myself in for.
“As I needed a co-driver and navigator there was only one person for the job and that’s Sam – and fortunately he agreed to join me on what will be an unforgettable experience.”
“I’ve bought a Panda that has competed in it twice before but, as you can imagine, we’ve had to do a lot of work to ensure it really was up to the job.
“We’ve replaced suspension, running gear and even had to buy sand skis.”
Andy Johnson
The pair are hoping to raise as much money as possible for Carter The Brave, a fundraising group set up by close friends to raise money for the Oncology Ward, Clinic and Research department at Birmingham’s Children’s Hospital.
Andy added:
“What started out as a bit of an adventure has snowballed into a fundraising drive to help raise as much as possible for the Carter the Brave fundraising group, set up in the name of a friend’s son who has battled an acute form of leukaemia to raise money for Birmingham Children’s Hospital.
“We haven’t set a target as such, but it really would be incredible to raise as much as we can for such an awesome cause.”
Andy Johnson
They will begin their charity drive on 1st March. People can donate via the Carter the Brave fundraising page.
